FOR IT IS GOD WHO IS AT WORK IN YOU: theos gar estin (3SPAI) o energon (PAPMSN) en humin: (Jer 31:33; 32:38; Jn 3:27; Acts 11:21; ; Heb 13:21; Jas 1:16, 17, 18)

THE CAUSE OF
THE EFFECT
IS GOD!

Paul now explains the "cause" of the "effect" in Php 2:12.

For (gar) - Notice the little preposition "for" (there are several thousand "for's" in Scripture!) and in this passage it is a term of explanation. This should always stimulate us to pause and ask what is the Spirit seeking to explain? (In fact, stop reading right now and observe the passage and see if you can determine what Paul is explaining.) You should practice this simple but very rewarding discipline every time you encounter a term of explanation. I guarantee it will rejuvenate your "Read Through the Bible in a Year" program! You might even get a small journal and begin to keep notes on what the Spirit illuminates and how this truth can be applied to your daily life. As you practice interrogating the text (the "for's") with the 5W/H questions such as "What the for there for?", what you are beginning to learn how to do is to read the Bible inductively and also how to meditate (see also Primer on Biblical Meditation) on the Scripture, a vanishing discipline in our fast paced world, but one which God gives you His sure promise of untold blessing (cp the promises to richly reward - see Ps 1:1-note, Ps 1:2-note, Ps 1:3-note, Joshua 1:8-note), cp Ps 4:4, 19:14, 27:4, 49:4, 63:6, Ps 77:6, 77:12, Ps 104:34, Ps 119:15, 119:23, 119:27, Ps 119:48, 119:78, Ps 119:97, 119:99, Ps 119:148, 143:5, Ps 145:5  - From these passages which "organ" of our being is most often involved/engaged in meditation? What are the subjects or focus of meditation?). Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. We must read...

Read Scripture every day
And meditate on what God said
To fight temptation from the world
And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

For (1063) (gar) in Phil 2:13 explains how it is possible for us as believers to obey the command to continually work out our salvation. Our initial salvation (justification) was a supernatural work of God. Why would we think that the supernatural work of daily sanctification is anything less than His ongoing work in us! This verse explains God's role (God's sovereignty) in the believer's sanctification process, whereas the preceding verse explains our role (man's responsibility). It should be clear that without God "working in" the believer who is "working out" his or her own salvation, genuine sanctification would be impossible.

Eadie...

The for (gar) indicates the connection, not by assigning a reason in the strict sense of the term, but by introducing an explanatory statement:— Engage in this duty; the inducement and the ability to engage in it are inducement and ability alike from God....

The position of Theos (God) shows the emphasis placed upon it by the apostle. God it is Who works in you—alluding to the inner operation of Divine grace—for en humin is not among you. There is special force in the form estin ho energon.

It is God - Note that God (theos) is placed first in the Greek to emphasize His vital role in this process. It is God alone. He is all we need. Our tendency is to think we can do it but by placing Theos or God in such an emphatic position, Paul wants us to be mindful that we cannot carry out this supernatural work of living a "Christ-ian" life without with Divine Assistance. We can live a religious life but it is like taking "Christ" out of the word "Christian"! Oh, how we need to keep this in mind as we seek to carry out the many commands in the NT, commands like mortify immorality, etc (Col 3:5-note). Men, just try to do that in your own strength! Need I say more? Thank You Father that Your commandments always include Your enablement!

Johann Bengel commenting on for it is God

And God alone. He is present with you, although I am absent. Nothing is lacking for you; do not be lacking yourselves. Comp. 2Pe 1:3-note. You can do nothing of yourselves; avoid careless security. Some relying too much on their exalted condition, think that they may hold the grace of God as the Israelites held the food sent down from heaven (Nu 11:8) and consequently, that it is their privilege either to resist it or admit it anew. (Philippians 2:12 Commentary - Critical English Testament)

Gordon Fee commenting on Php 2:13 notes that...

The "what" (Ed: See discussion of importance of asking the 5W/H'S) is loaded with theology. God empowers both our "doing" (energeo, the verb just used to describe God's "working") and the "willing" that lies behind the doing. Christian ethics has nothing to do with rules that regulate conduct. Rather, it begins with a mind that is transformed by the Spirit, so as not to be conformed to this age but to the character of God, knowing God's will, what is good and pleasing and perfect to him (Ro 12:1-2-note). We are not those who have been begrudgingly caught by God, so that we obey basically out of fear and trembling over what might happen if we were to do otherwise.

Rather, being Christ's means to be converted in the true sense of that word, to have our lives invaded by God's Holy Spirit, Who creates in us a new desire toward God that prompts godly behavior in the first place. (Philippians 2 Commentary - Application and Final Appeal)

...Thus with Php 2:13 Paul puts the imperative into theological perspective. What follows is to be understood as flowing directly out of this word; what pleases God in this instance, of course, is that the Philippians cease the in-fighting that is currently going on among some of them. Specific Application--Harmony for the World's and Paul's Sake (2:14-16) In moving from the general appeal to its specific application, Paul has clearly "quit preachin' and gone to meddlin'." Complaining and arguing are the sins that breed disunity and thus blur the effect of the gospel in Philippi. They are to do everything without indulging these attitudes, which reflect "selfish ambition" and "vain conceit" rather than the humility that puts the concerns of others ahead of one's own (Php 2:3-note).

J Ligon Duncan explains that....

When we talk about justification, we’re talking about God accepting us. When we’re talking about sanctification, we’re talking about God changing us. In this passage, Paul is not talking about how we’re accepted with God (cp Eph 1:6KJV). He’s telling us how we’re changed by God. In our acceptance, we contribute absolutely nothing. Not even our faith is a reason why God accepts us. Our faith is the way we receive His free acceptance, but in our change it’s a little bit different, isn’t it? Yes, God is at work in us by His grace to change us; but, in a way very different from our being accepted by God, we also work towards change in us, cooperating with what God the Holy Spirit is doing in us. And that’s very different from our acceptance.

Henry Alford writes that Paul gives the saints

encouragement to fulfill the last exhortation—for you are not left to yourselves, but have the almighty Spirit dwelling in you to aid you. This working must not be explained away with Pelagius, into "a mere persuasion and encouraging by promises:" it is an efficacious working which is here spoken of -- God not only brings about the will, but creates the will (Hallelujah! Thank You Lord!) —we owe both the will to do good, and the power, to His indwelling Spirit.

In you - not among you, but in you, as in 1Co 12:6, and 2Co 4:12; Eph. 2:2; Col. 1:29.

For the sake of His good pleasure -  i.e. in order to carry out that good counsel of His will which He hath purposed towards you (Philippians 2:13 Commentary - The NT for English Readers)

Wuest comments that...

In verse twelve, we have human responsibility, in verse thirteen, divine enablement, a perfect balance which must be kept if the Christian life is to be lived at its best. It is not a “let go and let God” affair. It is a “take hold with God” business. It is a mutual co-operation with the Holy Spirit in an interest and an activity in the things of God. The saint must not merely rest in the Holy Spirit for victory over sin and the production of a holy life. He must in addition to this dependence upon the Spirit, say a positive NO to sin and exert himself to the doing of the right (cp the teaching, child rearing role of the "grace of God" in Titus 2:12-note). Here we have that incomprehensible and mysterious interaction between the free will of man and the sovereign grace of God. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos) (Bolding added)

Gordon Fee emphasizes that "This does not mean that God is "doing it for them," but that God supplies the working power. Happily for us, God is on the side of his people."

CEV paraphrases it...

God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.

God calls us to holiness, and then empowers us to pursue holiness.

As James Hastings puts it...

This virtually is what St. Paul says here: Work out your own salvation, for now the great impossibility has become possible; God is working in you; this is no hopeless task to which I am calling you, no fruitless beating of the air, no idle effort of the leopard to change his spots or the Ethiopian to wash himself white. The Lord is working in you, and He is mighty to save. Whatever impulse you feel, whatever goodwill to this work, look upon it as a token of His presence and of His readiness to help you in it; that is God working in you both to will it and to do it, for He has no feeling but one of goodwill to you.

It is notable that the teaching that they are enabled to obey by God’s power is virtually unparalleled in pre-Christian literature except for Old Testament teachings on the Holy Spirit.

Paul places God (2316) (theos) first in the Greek sentence, which emphasizes the critical role God plays in our ability to work out our own salvation. God gives us both the desire and the energy. God's Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ lives in each believer and He gives us the desire and the energy to

"not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit"...and enables us "by the Spirit...(to put) to death the deeds of the body." In short we are to be continually "led by the Spirit" of the Living God Who is continually at work in us and Who Alone "is able to keep (us) from stumbling, and to make (us) stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Ro 8:4-note, Ro 8:13-note, Ga 5:18-note Jude 24)

John Kitto commenting on Php 2:13

The certainty that all our strength is from above, and the determination actively to employ that strength, must go together; neither will effect anything without the other; but the two combined will, by the blessing of God, finally beat down Satan under our feet. (Daily Bible Illustrations 3:240 in his notes on 1Sa 17 - Saul was right when he told David "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him" 1Sa 17:33! David's reply gives us the OT equivalent of Php 2:13 = "Jehovah...delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear. He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1Sa 17:37. Man's way = 1Sa 17:38-39! God's way = 1Sa 17:45, 46. See especially 1Sa 17:47! This Old Testament truth is the essence of the truth in Php 2:13!)

In the Old Testament we see God at work in Judah...

The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD. (2Chr 30:12)

Isaiah records during the Millennium that the Jews (all of whom will be redeemed at that time) will acknowledge....

LORD, you will grant us peace, for all we have accomplished is really from you. (Isa 26:12, NLT)

F F Bruce writes that...

When the Spirit takes the initiative in imparting to believers the desire and the power to do the will of God, then that desire and power becomes theirs by His gift, and they do His will ‘from your heart’ (See note Ephesians 6:6)

As the apostle Peter declared...

His divine power has granted (perfect tense = speaks of the permanence of this grant) to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (2Pe 1:3, 4-note)

SUPERNATURAL WORK
REQUIRES
SUPERNATURAL ENERGY

As Walter Smith says

That God must needs work in us is, of course, taken for granted; but we are encouraged by the assurance that that is exactly what He is already doing.

Work (1754) (energeo [word study] from energes = active, operative, at work in turn from en = in + érgon = work) refers to active, efficient, effectual fervent work. God supernaturally energizes us as His children to obey and serve Him. Is this not amazing grace! His power enables our progressive sanctification as His Spirit takes us from glory to glory (2Co 3:18-note).

Paul describes God's effective energetic power in believers, alluding to the operation of the Holy Spirit and the transforming power of grace. The present tense indicates God (Which member of the Trinity is at the forefront of this supernatural supply? cp 1Co 3:16, Ro 8:9-note, Ro 8:13-note, etc) is continually at work powerfully, energizing believers, enabling us to work out our salvation. Don't be discouraged beloved, and certainly don't give up in your fight against that besetting sin (Heb 12:1-note), for Paul is saying our Great and Mighty God is Himself always at work in us for our good (cp Ro 8:29-note) and for His glory. It is for that reason that sanctification will continue throughout the believer’s life (Php 1:6-note). Those whom God justifies by grace through faith, He just as surely sanctifies (also by grace through faith). (cp Ro 8:30-note, 1Cor 6:9-11)

Note that this truth abolishes (or should do so) all personal pride in our daily growth in grace and godliness. Any progress we make in supernatural sanctification is the result of divine desire and power worked into our being and fittingly it is God Who gets the glory for our sanctification.

James Hastings...

Two powers are at work, and the error lies in separating them. The two parts of the text, if taken separately, may lead to error. “Work.” “God works.” The truth lies in the synthesis of the two: Work, for God works....The great religions of the East, Hinduism and Buddhism, lay all the stress upon the human will. The key-note of those systems is, “Work out your own salvation.”

J Lyth sums up God's work...

God works: —

I. SECRETLY — “in you.”

II. MEDIATELY — by His Word.

III. MIGHTILY — by His Spirit.

IV. GRACIOUSLY — Of His good pleasure.

V. EFFECTUALLY — to will and to do. (Biblical Illustrator)

T. H. Leary...

Salvation worked in and out: — A clock presents a beautiful emblem of Christianity. When in good order it is always going, and one wheel propels another and even so must true Christianity be in continual exercise, and every act of godliness make way for the next. As a clock, however, needs to be constantly inspected, and frequently set and cleaned, so God, in His faithfulness and long suffering, has continual work to do, amending, purifying, and regulating our Christianity. (Biblical Illustrator)

James Owen...

Just as the same electricity that flashes like an avenging sword from the cloud, and that lightens from one side of heaven to the other, also trembles in the dew drop, and flies along the wire, carrying news from one continent to another: so the Divine Power that binds all holy beings in chains of loyalty and love to the throne of the eternal, and that breaks the bond of our captivity, and raises us to a state of spiritual enlargement and fellowship, also enables us to discharge the smallest duties and the common daily responsibilities of the Christian life. “Christ is all, and in all,” in every duty, in every service. (Biblical Illustrator)

H. W. Beecher...

When a seed is planted in good soil it is given over to the sun; and when the sun undertakes to care for a plant it always keeps its eye on the blossom and the fruit which it is to unfold. It is not enough that it develops stem, branches, and flowers. The tendency of the sun is to bring everything up to its ultimate consummation. So the tendency of the Divine Spirit is to draw men up steadily through the whole range of their faculties till they blossom. (Biblical Illustrator)

Spurgeon...

The assistance of Divine grace is not given to put aside our own efforts, but to assist them.

As Walvoord notes...

It is not the idea of work—that unless you work God cannot help you—but rather, work with the realization that you work not alone, that you have an infinite power within you, that actually God is working out His will for you and motivating you both to will or desire it and also to accomplish His good pleasure. (Walvoord, J. F.  Philippians: Triumph in Christ. Chicago, IL: Moody Press)

If you are discouraged by failures, the truth that God is continually at work in you and clearly has not given up on you should encourage you to forget what lies behind (Php 3:13) and press on (Php 3:14-note) in His power knowing that it is always too soon to quit!

Paul did not underestimate the importance of faithful obedience, but he knew that underlying all our obedience and acceptable service was the energizing power and will of God, Who Alone then will receive the glory. It is as if believers who are working out their salvation are God's "trophies" before the lost, watching world! Beloved, is your "trophy" shining forth or do you need to "dust" it off by practicing the principles of Philippians 2:12-13?

Paul emphasized this same principle of God's inner working and thus our dependence on God's power writing to the Corinthians...

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2Corinthians 3:5, 6)

After declaring that his great desire and purpose was to present all men complete in Christ (Col 1:28-note), he went on to explain how he carried out this task writing that it was...

for this purpose also I labor (kopiao to the point of exhaustion in the present tense = continually laboring), striving (agonizomai intensely struggling like an athlete in the present tense = continually striving) (Paul's responsibility) according to His power (God's provision), which mightily (dunamis) works (energeo in the present tense = continually energizes) within me . (Col 1:29-note) (Paul was passionate to see men formed complete in Christ and we should be no less zealous.)

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul emphasized that the carrying out of his responsibility was made possible by God's empowerment...

(Paul  reminded them that he) was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working (energeia in this context = supernatural energy) of His power (dunamis). (Ep 3:7-note)

Now to Him Who is able (dunamai in the present tense = continually has the inherent ability - see omnipotence) to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power (dunamis - Inherent power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature - obviously God's supernatural power) that works (energeo in the present tense = continually energizes) within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ep 3:20, 21-note).

Paul's point is that God energizes His children to obey and serve Him! His energy enables our ongoing, daily supernatural process of sanctification. In fact, believers can do nothing holy or righteous in their own power or resources and this even includes "church work" (especially if that work is done in our own natural [rather than supernatural] power and for our "recognition"!) (cp Jesus' warning that "apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5)

GOD IS THE ENERGY
AND
THE ENERGIZER!

William Hendriksen explains the working out process with several analogies writing that...

The toaster cannot produce toast unless it is “connected,” so that its nichrome wire is heated by the electricity from the electric power house. The electric iron is useless unless the plug of the iron has been pushed into the wall outlet. There will be no light in the room at night unless electricity flows through the tungsten wire within the light-bulb, each end of this wire being in contact with wires coming from the source of electric energy. The garden-rose cannot gladden human hearts with its beauty and fragrance unless it derives its strength from the sun. Best of all, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me” (John 15:4).So here also. Only then can and do the Philippians work out their own salvation when they remain in living contact with their God...By means of his Spirit working in the hearts of his people (Php 1:19-note), applying to these hearts the means of grace and all the experiences of life, God is the great and constant, the effective Worker, the Energizer, operating in the lives of the Philippians, bringing about in them both to will and to work. Note: not only to work but even to will, that is, to resolve and desire. (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. Vol. 5: New Testament commentary : Exposition of Philippians. Page 122. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House or Logos)

AN INCOMPARABLE
INCOMPREHENSIBLE
PARADOX

The incomprehensible "paradox" of man's responsibility (Php 2:12) and God's sovereignty (Php 2:13) described by Paul in this section is also found in several other NT passages (note brown corresponds to man's part and purple corresponds to God's part)...

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1Co 15:10-note)

And for this purpose (to present every man complete in Christ - Col 1:28-note) also I labor (kopiao), striving (agonizomai) according to His power, which mightily works within me. (Col 1:29-note)

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Gal 2:20-note)

If (since as is the case) we live by the Spirit (i.e., are indwelt by His life), let us also walk by the Spirit.  (Ga 5:25-note)

We see a similar paradoxical statement in Hebrews...

(Heb 13:20-note = Praying that God might) equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb 13:21-note)

John MacArthur emphasizes that...

That divine-human synergy working in and through believers has always existed and is exemplified in the Old Testament. When Pharaoh’s army threatened the people of Israel, Moses was so confident in the Lord that he cried out, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Ex 14:13, 14). But the Israelites also had a part to play: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land’ ” (Ex 14:15,16). It was not the Lord’s will that His people merely keep silent and be passive but that they participate actively in accomplishing His purpose. His purpose for them was to be accomplished through them. (MacArthur, J. Philippians. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos or Wordsearch)

Alexander Maclaren...

These two streams of truth are like the rain-shower that falls upon the water-shed of a country. The one half flows down the one side of the everlasting hills, and the other down the other. Falling into rivers that water different continents, they at length find the sea, separated by the distance of half the globe. But the sea into which they fall is one, in every creek and channel. And so, the truth into which these two apparent opposites converge, is “the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God,” whose ways are past finding out—the Author of all goodness, who, if we have any holy thought, has given it us; if we have any true desire, has implanted it; has given us the strength to do the right and to live in His fear; and who yet, doing all the willing and the doing, says to us, “Because I do everything, therefore let not thy will be paralyzed, or thy hand palsied; but because I do everything, therefore will thou according to My will, and do thou according to My commandments!”

Marvin Vincent adds that...

It is God's good pleasure which they are to fulfil, as did their great example, Jesus Christ (Ed: Mt 3:17, compare Jn 4:34, 17:4); and it is God Who, to that end, is energizing their will and their working. (See 2Co 5:18.) This is a serious task, to be performed in no self-reliant spirit, but with reverent caution and dependence on God...

in you as 1Co 12:6; 2Co 4:12 ; Ep 2:2; Col 1:29. Not ' among you.' (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians)

H. Lefroy Yorke...

This is the profound teaching in St. Augustine’s doctrine of grace, which he pressed so strongly as to seem at times almost to destroy the reality of free will. Man could not seek God unless God already possessed him. He possesses us that we may desire to possess Him. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as mere natural goodness. Whether it is recognized or not, all earnest thought and effort is God working in us.

James Hastings...

When we co-operate with God the antagonism vanishes. God and man are so near together, so belong to one another, that not a man by himself, but a man and God, is the true unit of being and power. The human will in such sympathetic submission to the Divine will that the Divine will may flow into it and fill it, and yet never destroy its individuality; my thoughts filled with the thought of One who, I know, is different from me while He is unspeakably close to me;—are not these the consciousnesses of which all souls that have been truly religious have been aware?

G. Matheson offers an interesting albeit a bit mystical explanation of the human and divine synergism depicted in Php 2:12-13...

There are two parts in every great work—a working in and a working out. The working in is always the Divine part. It is very easy to work out an idea when once you have got it; but the mystery is the getting of it. What is the mystery of the beehive? It is not the making of the hive; it is the conceiving of it. If you can tell me how the idea was worked in, I will tell you how the plan was worked out. The thing which wakes my wonder is the instinct—the process within the bee; I call it God’s work. So it is with my soul. I, too, am helping to build a hive—a great home of humanity, named the Kingdom of God (Ed: More correctly I am "building" Christ-likeness). I know not how it is done; I know not even what part of the building I am aiding to construct; I only know that an impulse of life moves me. That impulse is God working within me (Ed: The Spirit of Christ Ro 8:9, cp Jn 6:63). Whither it (He) tends I cannot see. The making of the hive eludes me. I am traveling through the night—carrying I know not what, to places I know not where. Only, the impulse (Ed: Of the Holy Spirit) says “go,” and I do go; I work out what God works in. I cannot fathom His designs; He has inspired me to the work by designs less than His own.

O power to do! O baffled will!
O prayer and action! ye are one.
-J G Whittier

J H Jowett explains it this way...

Rose leaves, placed within a vase, can influence the atmosphere of a room, creating an odor which is pleasing to the sense. Can the spirit of man, placed within its vase of clay, create a moral atmosphere which it will be healthful or injurious for others to breathe? Your mind has immediately given an affirmative answer. We cannot be in the presence of any man of great and holy force of character and not perceive his influence. How often one has heard a weaker man speak of a stronger man, and say, “As long as he is with me, I feel I can do everything I ought to do!” If you examine the expression you will find that it is a popular proof of the truth I am now enforcing, that one strong, dominant spirit can pervade a weaker one, and give to the weaker one a sense of confident and conquering might.
Now, let us lift up the argument to its highest application. If human spirit can work upon human spirit, and reinforce it by the impartation of its own strength, is it inconceivable that the great Creative Spirit can work upon created spirit, and impart to it its own unspeakable strength? Do you detect anything in the assumption which is belittling or degrading to an august conception of God? The raindrop, hanging at the tip of a rose-leaf, depends by the same power as the largest star. And I am fain to believe, and rejoice in believing, that the ineffable spiritual energy which is implied in what we call the holiness of God, and which empowers seraph and archangel with endurance to bear the “burning bliss” of the Eternal Presence, will also communicate itself to the weakest among the sons of men, and so hold him in his appointed place as to make it impossible for him ever to be moved.

John Berridge

“Power belongeth unto God.”
Ps. 62.11; Phil. 2.13

1 How sinners vaunt of power
A ruined soul to save,
And count the fulsome store
Of worth they seem to have,
And by such visionary props
Build up and bolster sandy hopes!

2 But God must work the will,
And power to run the race;
And both through mercy still,
A work of freest grace;
His own good pleasure, not our worth,
Brings all the will and power forth.

3 Disciples who are taught
Their helplessness to feel,
Have no presumptuous thought,
But work with care and skill;
Work with the means, and for this end,
That God the will and power may send.

4 [They feel a daily need
Of Jesus’ gracious store,
And on his bounty feed,
And yet are always poor;
No manna can they make or keep;
The Lord finds pasture for his sheep.]

5 Renew, O Lord, my strength
And vigour every day,
Or I shall tire at length,
And faint upon the way;
No stock will keep upon my ground;
My all is in thy storehouse found.

Who is John Berridge writer of the previous hymn? See Spurgeon's note on Berridge. The 18th century evangelical preacher John Berridge (1716-1793) (If you've never heard of him, you must take a moment and be convicted and challenged by C H Spurgeon's assessment of Berridge)  was called in by the Anglican bishop and reproved for preaching at all hours of the day and on every day of the week.

BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK: kai to thelein (PAN) kai to energein (PAN): (1Ki 8:58; 1Chr 29:14, 15, 16, 17, 18; Ezra 1:1,5; 7:27; Neh 2:4; Ps 110:3; 119:36; Ps 141:4; Pr 21:1; Jn 6:45,65; Ep 2:4,5; 2Th 2:13,14; Titus 3:4,5; 1Pet 1:3)

Hansen remarks that...

Contemporary Christians speak of a purpose-driven church and a purpose-driven life; Paul speaks here of a God-driven purpose. Even our purpose, our willing and desiring to live and work for God, comes from God. God is the great originator of human willing as well as human working...God’s indicative—God works—makes it possible to fulfill the imperative given to us—work! Without God’s prior work directing and empowering our work, all our work is meaningless and in vain. All human effort is in vain unless it is energized by God. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Ps 127:1) (Pillar New Testament Commentary The Letter to the Philippians).

Marvin Vincent adds that...

God so works upon the moral nature that it not only intellectually and theoretically approves what is good (Ro 7:14-23), but appropriates God's will as its own. The willing wrought by God unfolds into all the positive and determinate movements of the human will to carry God's will into effect. (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians)

Thomas Boston

The will is cured of its utter inability to will what is good. While the opening of the prison to those who are bound, is proclaimed in the Gospel, the Spirit of God comes and opens the prison door, goes to the prisoner, and, by the power of his grace, makes his chains fall off; breaks the bonds of iniquity, with which he was held in sin, so as he could neither will nor do anything truly good; and brings him forth into a large place, "working in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Phil. 2:13. Then it is that the soul, that was fixed to the earth, can move heavenward; the withered hand is restored, and can be stretched out. (Human Nature in its Fourfold State)

J C Philpot...

Sadly would we miss the mark, grievously would we mistake the way, should we lay on the creature a hair's breadth of will or power. "Without me you can do nothing," finds a responsive echo in every believing heart. And yet he does work in his people both to will and to do of his good pleasure; and, by the gentle constraints of his love, enables them not to live to themselves but to him who died for them and rose again, (Phil. 2:13; 2Cor 5:14, 15.)

Thomas Constable notes that Php 2:13

is one of the most comforting in the New Testament. Sometimes we want to do right but seem to lack the energy or ability. This verse assures us that God will help us. At other times we cannot even seem to want to do right. Here we learn that God can also provide the desire to do His will when we do not have it. If we find that we do not want to do right, we can ask God to work in us to create a desire to do His will. This verse gives us confidence that God desires both to motivate and to enable us. (Philippians Expository Notes)

In Ezekiel Jehovah, the Lord (Adonai [study]) God (Ezek 36:23) gives us the OT parallel of this great truth in Philippians in His promise of a New Covenant...

Moreover, I will give you (speaking directly to Israel, but applicable to all believers) a new (Lxx = kainos [word study] = a qualitatively brand new kind, one that has never existed - in short this is not a "renovated" but a "regenerated") heart and put a new (Lxx = kainos)  spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes (OT parallel of Php 2:13), and you will be careful to observe My ordinances (OT parallel of Php 2:12).  (Ezekiel 36:26, 27)

Comment: Although the term "New Covenant" is not used, comparison with Jer 31:31 (Lxx = kainos) indicates that this passage clearly refers to the New Covenant. This promise of the New Covenant was inaugurated by our Lord at the "Last Supper", the Passover meal in which He presented Himself as the Passover Lamb (1Co 5:7, Jn 1:29) declaring "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Lk 22:20). The covenant was "cut" (and consummated) by our Lord, the Lamb of God, when He yielded His life as a sacrifice on the Cross.

Earlier in Ezekiel's prophecy God had promised...

And I will give them one heart, and put a new (Lxx = kainos) spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19-note)

In Ezekiel 18 God again alludes to the New Covenant...

Cast away (Heb = imperative = a command; Lxx = aporripto = throw away, cast down) from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new (Lxx = kainos) heart and a new (Lxx = kainos) spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 18:31)

Comment: Don't misunderstand the command to make...a new spirit as if by our unrighteous deeds we could ever hope to achieve the perfect righteousness God's holiness and law demand! No, what God is calling for is a personal choice to enter into the New Covenant by grace through faith and receive a new heart and spirit (Ezek 36:26, 27) in Christ Jesus the Covenant Messenger (Mal 3:1).  See related resource: Excursus on Circumcision Of the Heart

John MacArthur commenting on Ezekiel 18:31 writes that

The key to life eternal and triumph over death is conversion (article by Darrell Bock). This involves repentance from sin (Ezek 18:30, 31a) and receiving the new heart which God gives with a new spirit, wrought by the Holy Spirit (Ezek 36:24, 25, 26, 27; Jer 31:34; Jn 3:5, 6, 7, 8).

God produces the desire to live godly and provides the effective energy to accomplish this supernatural objective in the life of every believer. So what is your excuse?

As Wiersbe rightly remarks...

Too many Christians obey God only because of pressure on the outside, and not power on the inside.

As an aside are you wrestling with what is the Will of God for you life? You might consider the RBC booklet How Can I Know What God Wants Me To Do?

In Philippians 2:12,13, Paul has in view both human choice (responsibility) and God’s sovereignty (provision/power). When Spurgeon was asked to “reconcile” the two, he replied, "How do I reconcile friends?".

Will (2309) (thelo cp related word thelema [word study]) means to determine and refers to one's desire and implies volition and purpose. Thelo refers to thoughtful, purposeful choice, not to mere whim or emotional desire. 

In ancient secular Greek thelo was used by Homer to speak of readiness, inclination, and desire. When one was ready for an event, or inclined to undertake a course of action, thelo was used. In the writings of Plato the word came to speak of intention or desire.

A genuine desire to do God’s will, as well as the power to obey it, originates with Him.

Thelo is in the present tense indicating God is continually at work on our will so to speak.

And so we learn that God’s work in us includes the transformation of our will, as well as our work. But clearly His work is not a passive transaction, in light of the exhortation in the preceding verse to work out our own salvation.

Kenneth Wuest summarizes the sense of the verb thelo in Php 2:13 commenting that...

It is this desire to do the good pleasure of God that is produced by divine energy in the heart of the saint as he definitely subjects himself to the Holy Spirit’s ministry.

It is God the Holy Spirit who energizes the saint,
making him not only willing,
but actively desirous of doing God’s sweet will.

But He does not merely leave the saint with the desire to do His will. He provides the necessary power to do it. This we have in the words “to do.” The Greek construction implies habit, the habitual doing of God’s will. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Wordsearch)

Jerry Bridges underscores why this action of God (to exert effect on our will to cause us to seek that which is holy rather than profane) is so crucial to a walk of holiness, explaining that it is...

the will that ultimately makes each individual choice of whether we will sin or obey. It is the will that chooses to yield to temptation or to say no. Our wills, then, ultimately determine our moral destiny, whether we will be holy or unholy in our character and conduct. This being true, it is critically important that we understand how our wills function—what causes them to turn in one direction or the other, why they make the choices they do. Above all else, we must learn how to bring our wills into submission and obedience to the will of God on a practical, daily, hour-by-hour basis....the mind, the emotions, the conscience, and the will...were all corrupted through man’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Our reason (or understanding) was darkened (Ep 4:18), our desires were entangled (Ep 2:3), and our wills perverted (Jn 5:40). With new birth our reason is again enlightened, our affections and desires redirected, and our wills subdued. But though this is true, it is not true all at once. In actual experience it is a growing process. We are told to renew our minds (Ro 12:2), to set our affections on things above (Col 3:1), and to submit our wills to God (Jas 4:7)....

While the will is the ultimate determiner of all choices, it is influenced in its choices by the strongest forces brought to bear upon it. These compelling forces come from a variety of sources. It may be the subtle suggestions of Satan and his world system (Ep 2:2) or the evil enticements of our own sinful nature (Jas 1:14). It may be the urgent voice of conscience, the earnest reasoning of a loving friend, or the quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit. But from whatever source these compelling forces come, they reach our wills through either our reason or our emotions. Solomon said, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Pr 4:23). If we diligently guard our minds and emotions, we will see the Holy Spirit working in us to conform our wills to His own (Php 2:12, 13)...

The Bible speaks to us primarily through our reason, and this is why it is so vitally important for our minds to be constantly brought under its influence. There is absolutely no shortcut to holiness that bypasses or gives little priority to a consistent intake of the Bible....It is obvious from even a casual reading of Pr 2:1-12 that the protective influence of the Word of God comes as a result of diligent, prayerful, and purposeful intake of Scripture. To guard our minds, we must give priority to the Bible in our lives—not just for the spiritual information it gives but also for the daily application of it in our workaday lives....

God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires. It is true Satan will attack our reason to confuse and cloud the issues, but that is only to enable him to conquer us through our desires. This is the strategy he employed with Eve (Ge 3:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). He attacked her reason by questioning God’s integrity, but his primary temptation was to her desire. We read that Eve saw that the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and desirable for making one wise (Genesis 3:6)....we are to set our desires on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God (Ed: cp 2Ti 2:22-note, Col 3:1-note, Col 3:2-note, Ps 1:2-note)...

 Normally our reason, wills, and emotions should work in that order, but since we so often reverse the order, giving attention to our desires, we must work at directing those desires toward God’s will....Our responsibility regarding our wills is to guard our minds and emotions, being aware of what influences our minds and stimulates our desires. As we do our part, we will see the Spirit of God do His part in making us more holy. (From chapter 13 of The Pursuit of Holiness [or Logos] = This small book is highly recommended - Do not speed read but "chew" slowly, digest fully & prayerfully read every Scripture referenced. Consider using the The Pursuit of Holiness Study Guide and/or studying with your accountability partner or group.)

First
VOLITION (WILL)
Then
ACTION (WORK)

Eadie...

first and naturally volition, and then action (Ro 7:18) The double kai is emphatic (kai to thelein kai to energein) The apostle uses energein (energeo) both of cause and effect—energon...energein— whereas the verb denoting the ultimate form of action was katergazesthe (katergazomai). The difference is very apparent. The latter term, the one employed by the apostle in the exhortation of Php 2:12-note, represents the full and final bringing of an enterprise to a successful issue; whereas energein describes action rather in reference to vital power or ability, than form or result. The will and the work are alike from God, or from the operation of His grace and Spirit; not the work without the will—an effect without its cause; not the will without the work—an idle and effortless volition.  (The Epistle to the Philippians - online excellent) )

Believers choose to behave a certain way but only because the Holy Spirit is at work causing us to want to do God’s will. God arouses, stirs, and energizes the heart of the believer to do God's will. This is a wonderful truth. All believers experience movements and stirrings within their heart toward God. These stirrings are from His Spirit. God is working within —energizing —giving both the will and power to do what pleases Him. Amazing grace! Our part is to lay hold of these stirrings and not to let them pass by unheeded. We are to grab hold of them and do exactly what the stirrings are arousing and energizing us to do. Then we are truly working out our salvation. Praise God He does not leave us to our own futile efforts.

John MacArthur has an interesting comment on this passage writing that...

God uses two means to move believers’ wills.

First is what might be called holy discontent, the humble recognition that one’s life always falls short of God’s standard of holiness...

The second means God uses to move believers’ wills is holy aspiration, the positive side of holy discontent. After He instills a genuine hatred of sin, He cultivates a genuine desire for righteousness. After He makes believers discontent with what they are, He gives them the aspiration to greater holiness. Above all, it is the desire to be like Christ, “to become conformed to the image of [God’s] Son” (Ro 8:29-note)...

Holy resolve leads to holy living. A godly will produces godly work. (Read the full message on "God At Work in You" Part 3)

And to work - The power that works in us and "energizes" our new supernatural life, is the power of the Holy Spirit of God (cp John 14:16, 17, 26; Acts 1:8; 1Cor. 6:19, 20). We do well to remember that the same Holy Spirit Who empowered Christ when He was ministering on earth is to empower us as well. Luke describes the Holy Spirit's empowering role in Jesus' life and ministry...

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness (Luke 4:1)

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power (dunamis) of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching (What was His source of "power" with which to teach?) in their synagogues and was praised by all. (Luke 4:14-15)

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power (dunamis), and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)

Jesus promised the same Spirit and power to His disciples and the Spirit is still every believer's source of power...

(Jesus said) you shall receive power (dunamis) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

Thomas Watson...

The form of the first covenant in innocence was by WORKS. "Do this and live." (Lev 18:5) Working was the ground and condition of man's justification. Gal 3:12, "How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says—If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands." Not but that working is required in the covenant of grace, for we are bid to work out our salvation, and be rich in good works. But works in the covenant of grace are not required under the same notion, as in the first covenant with Adam. Works are not required for the justification of our persons—but as an attestation of our love to God;

not as the cause of our salvation—
but as an evidence of our adoption.

Works are required in the covenant of grace, not so much in our own strength as in the strength of Christ. "It is God who works in you." Phil 2:13. As the teacher guides the child's hand, and helps him to form his letters, so that it is not so much the child's writing as the master's. Just so, our obedience is not so much our working as the Spirit's co-working. (Body of Divinity)

Pray for the Spirit of God. We cannot do it in our strength. The Spirit must work in us both to will and to do. Phil 2:13. When the loadstone draws—the iron moves. Just so, when God's Spirit draws—we run in the way of his commandments. (The Ten Commandments)

A W Pink...

This point is of supreme importance for those who desire their steps to be truly ordered of the Lord. We cannot discern His best for us while the heart has its own preference. Thus it is imperative to ask God to empty our hearts of all personal preferences, to remove any secret, set desire of our own. But often it is not easy to take this attitude before God, the more so if we are not in the habit of seeking grace to mortify the flesh. By nature each of us wants his own way, and chafes against every curb placed upon us. Just as a photographic plate must be blank if it is to receive a picture upon it, so our hearts must be free from personal bias if God is to work in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). (The Attributes of God)

John Angell James...

God's working is not mentioned as a reason why we should not work ourselves—but as an inducement to engage us in an earnest and diligent cooperation with him. The meaning is, God exerts a certain influence upon our minds to produce a certain effect on us—that effect is, "to will," that is to "choose" to be holy; "to do," that is to perform holy actions. This effect in us is the end and purpose of his influence upon us. It is not God who wills and acts for us—but we who will and act ourselves, under his influence. The mode of this divine influence we cannot explain. It is not a physical force, such as is exerted on passive unintelligent matter; nor is it the mere moral force of persuasion, such as one man exerts upon another by mere argument and entreaty; but it is an influence of a peculiar kind, and peculiar to this subject, the operation of the Divine Spirit upon the human mind, causing it to understand and yield to the power of truth as set forth in the Gospel, and addressed to man's intellect.  (Christian Progress)

Work (1754) (energeo [word study] from energes = active, operative, at work in turn from en = in + érgon = work) refers to active, efficient, effectual fervent work. It refers to being energized and active in a particular endeavor.

God energizes His children to obey and serve Him; His power enables their sanctification. Energeo in the NT virtually always describes supernatural activity, principally God's energizing activity and this verse is no exception.

Energeo describes active, efficient, effective working. Paul is saying that God exerts effective, energetic power in believers which enables them to obey. The activity put forth in an individual energizes him to the doing certain things intended by God Who is doing the energizing.

The present tense indicates that God's grace and Spirit continually work effectually and productively, providing the necessary power for supernatural living.

Paul linked this divine internal working or energizing in believers with the living and abiding Word of God writing to the saints at Thessalonica...

And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs (energeo = effective, operative and productive, continually [present tense] producing an effect in the lives of those who receive it) its work in you who believe.  (1Th 2:13-note)

The prayer of the writer of Hebrews echoes a similar dependence on God's power to carry out what He calls us to do, the writer asking that God...

equip you in every good thing to do His will, working (present tense = continually) in us that which is pleasing (euarestos = well pleasing, acceptable, speaks of God's attitude toward man) in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (He 13:21-note)

A T Robertson writes...

Both the willing and the working (the energizing). God does it all, then. Yes, but he puts us to work also and our part is essential, as he has shown in verse 12, though secondary to that of God.

D A Carson...

God's continuous, gracious, sovereign work in our lives becomes for us an incentive to press on with fear and trembling.

William Barclay commenting on the meaning of energeo notes that...

There are two significant things about (energeo); it is always used of the action of God, and it is always used of effective action. God’s action cannot be frustrated, nor can it remain half-finished; it must be fully effective. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

A BALANCED
VIEW

Warren Wiersbe explains this balance writing that Paul...

is setting before us the divine pattern for the submissive mind and the divine power to accomplish what God has commanded. “It is God which worketh in you” (Phil 2:13). It is not by imitation, but by incarnation—“Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2:20-note). The Christian life is not a series of ups and downs. It is rather a process of “ins and outs.” God works in, and we work out. We cultivate the submissive mind by responding to the divine provisions God makes available to us. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)

Pulpit Commentary adds...

The grace of God is alleged as a motive for earnest Christian work. The doctrines of grace and free-will are not contradictory: they may seem so to our limited understanding: but in truth they complete and supplement one another. Paul does not attempt to solve the problem in theory; he bids us solve it in the life of faith (comp. 1Cor. 9:24-note, “So run that ye may obtain;” and Ro. 9:16-note. (The pulpit commentary)

Greg Herrick reminds believers of the need to "keep our balance" in our Christian walk:

We cannot say, “It all depends on me. This makes Christianity just a list of do’s and don’ts.” This negates verse 13. Yet, on the other hand, we cannot sit around waiting for God to do something, all the while disobeying the explicit teaching of Scripture. This is to deny the imperative in verse 12. The informed Christian who knows the Lord through his word, and in prayer, will say with the apostle Paul:

by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1Corinthians 15:10-note - note that the same grace that saved [justified] Paul continued to effect his ongoing sanctification! May we too walk by a similar faith, not by our sight [or our feelings])

Jeremy Taylor wrote that...

God has given to man but a short time on earth, yet upon this time does all eternity depend.

Henry Drummond writes that...

One of the futile methods of sanctifying ourselves is trying; effort--struggle--agonizing. I suppose you have all tried that, and I appeal to your own life when I ask if it has not failed. Crossing the Atlantic, the Etruria, in which I was sailing, suddenly stopped in mid-ocean--something had broken down. There were a thousand people on board that ship. Do you think we could have made it go if we had all gathered together and pushed against the sides or against the masts? When a man hopes to sanctify himself by trying, he is like a man trying to make the boat go that carries him by pushing it--he is like a man drowning in the water and trying to save himself by pulling the hair of his own head. It is impossible. Christ held up the mode of sanctification almost to ridicule when He said: "Which of you by taking thought can add a cubit to his stature?" Put down that method forever as futile.

Another man says: "That is not my way. I have given up that. Trying has its place, but that is not where it comes in. My method is to concentrate on some single sin, and to work away upon that until I have got rid of it." Now, in the first place, life is too short for that process to succeed. Their name is legion. In the second place, that leaves the rest of the nature for a long time untouched. In the third place, it does not touch the seed or root of the disease. If you dam up a stream at one place, it will simply overflow higher up. And for a fourth reason: Religion does not consist in negatives--in stopping this sin and stopping that sin. (The Perfected Life)

John Piper reconciles Philippians 2:12,13 this way...

God's sovereignty in sanctification does not remove our obligation. It enables it...God's sovereign work in us is our only hope that we will press on to maturity. (from Let Us Press on to Maturity) God’s working and willing in us does not make our working pointless; it makes it possible. (from Assessing Ourselves ) We obey and we work. It is our act and our choice. But beneath our doing and our willing is God giving the willing and giving the doing. "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." It is really our work and really his gift. It is really our willing and really his gift. (from Let Us Press On To Maturity Hebrews 6:1-3)

Lehman Strauss writes that...

 We work and God works. It is a mutual effort toward the common goal of glorifying God in our lives. Here is a blending and interacting of God’s sovereign grace and power and man’s free will. God works in us but we dare not be passive. We work, too, and our work and the exercise of our wills are never at greater liberty than when thus engaged in doing ‘His good pleasure.’ The Holy Spirit abides in the believer, and he is never more pleased than when we are working out that which He has worked in...But remember, while God has assumed the responsibility for the inworking, we are responsible for the outworking” (Studies in Philippians, p. 123).  (Bolding added)

As C H Spurgeon put it...

We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, but not till he has worked in us can we work it out.

.In a similar reminder Oswald Chambers writes that...

God alters our disposition, but he does not make our character. When God alters my disposition, the first thing the new disposition will do is to stir up my brain to think along God’s line. As I begin to think, begin to work out what God has worked in, it will become character. Character is consolidated thought. God makes me pure in heart; I must make myself pure in conduct.

C S Lewis commented that...

Scripture just sails over the problem [of the whole puzzle about grace and free will]. “Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling” – pure Pelagianism. But why? “For it is God who worketh in you” – pure Augustinianism (he argued that without grace there could be no salvation). It is presumably only our presuppositions that make this appear nonsensical.

Chuck Swindoll in his exposition of Philippians (Laugh Again) writes that...

Christ says in effect, “You want to live My life? Here is My power.” Lo and behold, He strengthens us within. “You want to please My heavenly Father? Here’s My enablement.” And He enables us by His Spirit...You see, Christ not only lived an exemplary life, He also makes it possible for us to do the same. He gives us His pattern to follow without, while at the same time providing the needed power within...Because we have His example to follow and His power to pull it off, you and I no longer have to fake it or hurry it or strive for it. Once He gets control of our minds, the right attitudes bring about the right actions (Laugh Again, p. 96 ).

James Hastings...

By God working in us “to will and to do,” we are to understand that He makes us willing, and gives us power, who were formerly unwilling and unable, to surrender ourselves to the work of our own salvation. Nor is there involved in this any violation of the true liberty of the human will. The will is incapable of coercion. There can be no forcing of volition.

The very freest act of the human soul
is that by which it gives itself under God’s grace to Himself.

When God works in the soul “to will” there is no violence done to the rational nature. On the contrary, there is the fullest unison with the freedom and responsibility of the moral being. And so is it also when God works in us “to do.” Our doing is not compulsory action. It is not a course of conduct to which we are forcibly driven, but one to which we are freely drawn.

We are not like slaves,
compelled by the lash to do what we have a repugnance to do.

We are like freemen, influenced by grace
to do what we have the inclination and resolve to do.

Thus the carrying out of our salvation is willing action. But the will and the action, though by us as agents, are not from us in their motive cause. The will is wrought in us by God, and the action is wrought by us, as the instruments of the in-working agency of God (Ed: Who indwells us in the form of the Holy Sprit).

J C Philpot...

When God has worked in a man "to will," and not only worked in him "to will," but also worked in him "to do;" when he has made him willing to flee from the wrath to come; willing to be saved by the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of Jesus; willing to be saved by sovereign grace as a sinner undone without hope, and glad to be saved in whatever way God is pleased to save him; willing to pass through the fire, to undergo affliction, and to walk in the strait and narrow path; willing to take up the cross and follow Jesus; willing to bear all the troubles which may come upon him, and all the slanders which may be heaped upon his name; when God has made him willing to be nothing, and to have nothing but as God makes him the one, and gives him the other--and besides working in him "to will," has worked in him "to do," worked in him faith to believe, hope whereby he anchors in the finished work of Christ, and love whereby he cleaves to him with purpose of heart; when all this has been "with fear and trembling," not rushing heedlessly on in daring presumption, not buoyed up by the good opinion of others, not taking up his religion from ministers and books; but by a real genuine work of the Holy Spirit in the conscience; when he has thus worked out with fear and trembling what God has worked in, he has got at salvation; at salvation from wrath to come, from the power of sin, from an empty profession; at salvation from the flesh, from the delusions of Satan, from the blindness and ignorance of his own heart; he has got at a salvation which is God's salvation, because God has worked in him to will and to do of his good pleasure. (June 15 Devotional)

F B Meyer writes...

He works in us to will. That is, He does not treat us like a machine. He deals with us as moral agents who can say yes and no. He is not going to compel us to be saints, He is not going to force us to be holy. If thou wilt, He much more wills, and thou dost will because He willed before. The will of God wants to take thee up into itself, as the wind that breathes over a city waits to catch up the smoke from a thousand chimney-pots, and waft it on its bosom through the heavens.

You may always know when God is willing within you--

First, by a holy discontent with yourself. You are dissatisfied with all that you have ever done, and been.

Secondly, you aspire; you see above you the snow-capped peaks, and your heart longs to climb and to stand there.

Thirdly, these are followed by the appreciation of the possibility of your being blameless and harmless and without rebuke. If a man refuses to believe that he can be a saint, he never will become one. If a man says, I cannot hope to be more than conqueror, God Himself cannot save him. When the Spirit of God is within you, there rises up a consciousness that you have the capacity for the highest possible attainments, because you were made and redeemed in the image of God, and because the germ of the Christ-nature has been sown in your spirit. Two men go through a picture-gallery. Each sees the same masterpiece. One says, I cannot imagine how that can be done. The other man says, I also am a painter. That second man is capable of producing a picture which also shall outlive. You must believe that you can be a saint, even you. You must dare to believe it, because the Christ-germ is sown in your character, and because God is working in you to will and to do.

Fourthly, the determination, I will. There should be a moment in the history of us all when each shall say--Cost what it may, I will not yield again; I will arise to be what God wants to make me; I will yield myself to Him; I will reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ; I will yield myself to the power that worketh in me. Discontent, aspiration, appreciation of the possibilities of saintliness, and resolve.

The will of God is working in you to-day. Cannot you take those four steps? Are you going back to live the old self-indulgent life? If so, these words will be a curse to you, for nothing injures the soul so much as to know the truth and yet fall back into the ditch. (Devotional Commentary on Philippians)

William Cowper's hymn...

Evangelical Obedience.
Ro 7.9; Php 2.13

1 No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright;
And what she has she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.

2 How long beneath the law I lay,
In bondage and distress!
I toiled the precept to obey,
But toiled without success.

3 [Then to abstain from outward sin
Was more than I could do;
Now, if I feel its power within,
I feel I hate it too.]

4 [Then, all my servile works were done
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose his ways.]

5 What shall I do, was then the word,
That I may worthier grow?
What shall I render to the Lord?
Is my inquiry now.

6 To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear his pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.

FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE: huper tes eudokias: (Lk 12:32; Ro 9:11-note, Ro 9:16-note; Eph 1:5-note, Ep 1:9-note, Ep 1:11-note; Ep 2:8-note; 2Th 1:11; 2Ti 1:9-note)

The NIV is slightly different rendering Philippians 2:13...

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

The New Living paraphrase renders it...

For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.

Clarke writes that...

Every good is freely given of God; no man deserves any thing from Him; and as it pleases Him, so He deals out to men those measures of mental and corporeal energy which He sees to be necessary; giving to some more, to others less, but to all what is sufficient for their salvation.

Barnes writes that...

Here eudokia means that which would be agreeable to him; and the idea is, that he exerts such an influence as to lead men to will and to do that which is in accordance with his will.

Boice has some interesting thoughts on this passage writing...

I wonder if you have ever noticed that the well-known verses of Ephesians 2:8, 9, 10 speak twice of our works, the things that we do. One kind of work is condemned because it comes out of ourselves and is contaminated by sin. The other kind of work is encouraged because it comes from God as he works within the Christian. The verses say,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works [that is, of human working], so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works [that is, the result of God's working], which God prepared in advance for us to do."

These verses are really Paul's own commentary upon Philippians 2:12, 13, for they tell us that although God can never be satisfied with any good that comes out of human beings, he is satisfied and pleased with the good that is done by Christians through the power of Jesus Christ within them. Through that power the tyranny of sin is broken, the possibility of choosing for God is restored, and a new life of communion with God and holiness is set before the Christian. (Boice Expositional Commentary)

James Hastings asks...

What is this “good pleasure” of God towards man? Not that man should exist as a being endowed with reason, conscience, affection, and will, in merely elementary form, still less in the depraved and corrupted forms with which we are only too familiar. It is that human beings, endowed from the beginning with the germs of Power Divine, human beings now existing as weak, wayward, sinning, shame-stained children, should, through the manifold discipline of life, be educated, built up into all the power, wisdom, and moral beauty of a perfect manhood; that through sore trial, and deep suffering, and awful sacrifice, every heavenly faculty should be daily led forth into larger force and nobler firmness, every taint of moral weakness and impurity be gradually purged away, every virtue, every grace of the Christian character be quickened and ripened into fullest beauty in every human soul; that all the sons of men should become truly, fully, sons of God—each carrying on in his varied activity the very work of God, the Author of all life and beauty and joy; and each, in all his richly endowed humanity, standing forth before all worlds the image and the glory of the Eternal.

Good pleasure (2107) (eudokía from eu = well, well off + dokeo = to seem, to think, to have an opinion)  means good will or pleasure. Eudokia speak of that which pleases.

Eudokia - 10 times in the NT (see below) - Mt. 11:26; Lk 2:14; 10:21; Ro 10:1-note; Eph 1:5-note (purpose = kind intention) Ep 1:9-note; Php 1:15-note; Php 2:13; 2Th 1:11

Please note, eudokia (in my opinion) is one of those Greek words which is somewhat difficult to define in concrete, easily apprehended terms, so keep this caveat in mind as you read the various definitions of eudokia. Part of the difficulty in defining eudokia arises from the fact that it has no classic Greek uses, appearing for the first time in Septuagint.

In Ro 10:1-note eudokia describes a feeling of strong emotion in favor of and thus a desire or wish and includes the idea that a desire is usually directed toward something that causes satisfaction or favor. Thayer offers for this instance of its use, “desire, for delight in any absent thing easily begets a longing for it.”

 In Php 1:15-note eudokia speaks of men and describes having a good intent or goodwill (contrasting with envy and strife). Most of the other NT uses of eudokia (including here in Philippians 2:13) are  used of God. Eudokia expresses not merely a benevolent attitude but an active pleasure, and, when used of something not yet realized, indicates a fervent desire.

God's motive behind His work in our lives is because it gives Him pleasure!

MacArthur writes that...

eudokia in Philippians 2:13 speaks of satisfaction or good pleasure. God works in us to cause us to do what satisfies and pleases Him. Such is the goal of the sanctification process. Working out our salvation with fear and trembling pleases Him. Believers are very dear to God; so when we obey His will, He is pleased. Isn’t that the essence of a relationship? We want to please the ones we love. God wants our best because that’s what pleases Him most—and He is worthy of even more—so we should give Him our best as a demonstration of our love. Think of it! We can bring pleasure to the One who does everything for us. (MacArthur, J., F., Jr. Our Sufficiency in Christ Crossway. page 208. 1998)

Note that eudokia is variously translated (see full verses below) in the NASB as desire(2), good pleasure(1), good will(1), kind intention(2), pleased(1),well-pleasing(2).

Vine writes that eudokia...

implies a gracious purpose, a good object being in view, with the idea of a resolve, showing the willingness with which the resolve is made. It is often translated “good pleasure,” e.g., Eph 1:5-note, Ep 1:9-note; Php 2:13; in Phil. 1:15-note, “good will”; in Rom. 10:1-note, “desire,” (marg., “good pleasure”); in 2Th 1:11, rv, “desire,” kjv and rv, marg., “good pleasure.” It is used of God in Matt. 11:26 (“well pleasing,” rv, for kjv, “seemed good”); Luke 2:14, rv, “men in whom He is well pleased,” lit., “men of good pleasure” (the construction is objective); 10:21; Eph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 2:13. See pleasure, seem, will.

TDNT has this note on Paul's uses of eudokia...

In the NT there are only two references to human will. In Ro 10:1-note the will of the heart becomes petition to God. In Phil. 1:15 the idea is that of good will, directed toward Paul but by implication toward his mission as well. The other references in Paul are all to God’s good pleasure or counsel. It is just possible that good human resolve is at issue in 2Th. 1:11, but this is unlikely. In Ep 1:5, 9, 11, where thélēma, próthesis, and boule accompany eudokía, the term brings out the element of free good pleasure in the divine counsel. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W.  Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)

NIDNTT writes that...

The verb eudokeo is a colloquial term from Hellenistic times (attested from the 3rd cent. B.C.). It is thought to be derived from the hypothetical eudokos, formed from eu, good, and dechomai, to accept (Ed: Note that this is different then the derivation noted above.). In classic Greek it means to be well pleased or content, to consent, approve; in the passive, to be favoured, i.e. prosper; to find favour with. From the verb the LXX has also formed the noun eudokia, whereas classic Gk. uses the noun eudokesis, satisfaction, approval, consent. The goal of the Epicurean philosophy of life is the eudokoumene zoe, the life with which one is content (Philodemus Philosophus, De Morte 30, 42; cf. G. Schrenk, TDNT II 740).  (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan) 

The noun eudokia occurs 10 times in the non-apocryphal Septuagint - LXX) (1Chr. 16:10; Ps. 5:12; 19:14; 51:18; 69:13; 89:17; 106:4; 141:5; 145:16; Song 6:4). Here is a representative use...

Psalm 19:14-note Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable (Hebrew = ratson = pleasure, delight favor, acceptance; LXX = eudokia) in Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Here are the 9 NT uses of eudokia...

Matthew 11:26 "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing (good pleasure) in Thy sight.

Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased (good pleasure)."

Luke 10:21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.

Romans 10:1 (note) Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

Ephesians 1:5 (note) He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention (good will, delight, satisfaction, purpose, counsel) of His will, (Comment: Paul teaches that predestination is God's absolute act of free love grounded totally in Himself - here according to the kind intention or good pleasure of His will).

Ephesians 1:9 (note) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him (Comment: Wuest writes that "God’s good pleasure, therefore, is not an arbitrary whim of a sovereign, but represents that which in the wisdom and love of God would contribute most to the well-being and blessing of the saints. The word means “will, choice, delight, pleasure, satisfaction.” In the case of God, all these are dictated by what is good or well. Thus, the delight, pleasure, and satisfaction which God has in blessing the saints is found in the fact that what He does for them is dictated by what is good for them. This good pleasure is that “which He hath purposed in Himself.")

Philippians 1:15 (note) Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;

Philippians 2:13 (note) for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

2 Thessalonians 1:11 To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire (purpose, choice) for goodness and the work of faith with power

God’s good pleasure Is not an arbitrary whim of a sovereign, but represents that which in the wisdom and love of God would contribute most to the well-being and blessing of the saints. The ultimate goal or purpose of our lives is "His good pleasure". Our lives are to be lived for God's greater glory and not for our own selfish desires. Are we left to carry out this daunting task alone? Is it our task to grit our teeth and to "grin and bear it" (whatever "it" is in our lives)? Paul is teaching us "Absolutely not!" He is however not saying just "Let go and let God." That is part of the "equation" but Paul presents a balanced picture: God is at work in us! He gives us strength and empowers our diligence. As He pours His power into us, we are to do our part choosing to do the things that bring Him pleasure. His pleasure not ours. His will not ours. His glory not ours. Those are the things that make life truly meaningful.

Chuck Swindoll observes

"As He pours His power into us, we do the things that bring Him pleasure. Take special note that His pleasures (not ours), His will (not ours), His glory (not ours) are what make life meaningful.” (Ibid)

Wil Pounds adds that in this verse we find...

The ultimate goal or purpose of our lives is stated...“His good pleasure.” How foolishly we pursue the idea that our lives, even as Christians, are to seek after and fulfill our selfish desires and ambitions. We are now His possession and the goal of our lives is to bring honor and glory to Him.

><>><>><>

God Is At Work

We always crave change in a new year. This is why on January 1 we start diets, exercise programs, and new hobbies. Of course, a month later we’re usually back to our old bad habits. Maybe that’s because we crave too big a change and do not have enough power and will to make the changes.

I wonder how many Jesus-followers have made commitments to change and grow spiritually but are experiencing frustration because they don’t have the will and power to carry out those steps.

Paul addresses this issue in his letter to the Philippians. As he encouraged them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12), Paul said they would not be on their own. God Himself would energize them to grow and carry out His tasks. The first area affected would be their desires. God was at work in them, giving them the desire to change and grow. He was also working to give them the power to make the actual changes (Php 2:13).

God has not left us alone in our struggles to attain spiritual growth. He helps us want to obey Him, and then He gives us the power to do what He wants. Ask Him to help you want to do His will.— by Marvin Williams

Every day more like my Savior,
Every day my will resign,
Until at last Christ reigns supremely
In this grateful heart of mine.
—Brandt

The power that compels us
comes from the Spirit who indwells us.

><>><>><>

How To Fail Successfully -

Inventor Charles Kettering has suggested that we must learn to fail intelligently. He said, “Once you’ve failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don’t want to fail is the last time you try.”

Kettering gave these suggestions for turning failure into success: (1) Honestly face defeat; never fake success. (2) Exploit the failure; don’t waste it. Learn all you can from it. (3) Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again.

Kettering’s practical wisdom holds a deeper meaning for the Christian. The Holy Spirit is constantly working in us to accomplish “His good pleasure” (Php 2:13), so we know that failure is never final. We can’t reclaim lost time. And we can’t always make things right, although we should try. Some consequences of our sins can never be reversed. But we can make a new start, because Jesus died to pay the penalty for all our sins and is our “Advocate with the Father” (1Jn 2:1).

Knowing how to benefit from failure is the key to continued growth in grace. According to 1Jn 1:9, we need to confess our sins—it’s the first step in turning our failure into success.— by Dennis J. De Haan

Onward and upward your course plan today,
Seeking new heights as you walk Jesus' way;
Heed not past failures, but strive for the prize,
Aiming for goals fit for His holy eyes. —Brandt

Failure is never final
for those who begin again with God.

><>><>><>

Dennis De Haan writes that

"When we experience God's love through faith in Jesus Christ, something wonderful is born within us--a desire to love and please God for all He has done for us. This desire may grow faint at times, especially when other passions clamor for fulfillment. But the Lord is always working in us "both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). When we realize that He always desires our good, we will want to live for His glory.

What is your greatest desire?

The world displays and tempts us with
All kinds of sinful pleasure;
But if we long to please the Lord,
We'll have life's greatest treasure. --Sper

You can do what you want when you want to please God.

The trap we fall into is trying to "clean ourselves up" so that we appear more holy to people. We stop going to R-Rated movies, stop cursing, etc and think that because we have abandoned a few behaviors we are "better". The Christian life however is no longer a matter of stopping some things and starting some others. Our ability to sin or not is the result of the Holy Spirit in us leading us to be like Christ (cf Ro 8:13-note). The progressive process of "separation" from the world (sanctification) takes place as we "cooperate" with the Spirit (under control of or filled with the Spirit...like a "drunk" man...what fills him controls him.) We too like Paul have to continually, daily die to the flesh (death to self), saying "yes" to Jesus and "no" the flesh (not in the reverse order!) so that Christ can live His life through us. It is not us living "like Jesus" trying to do for Him but Christ living His life through us...this is the key to the Christ Life. We can't but He can. Christ in me enables me to do what He has commanded me to do (Ezek 36:27 He 13:21-note).

Warren Wiersbe tells of a frustrated Sunday school teacher whose class wasn't growing as it should. She wore herself out working harder and harder, yet nothing changed. Finally, after recognizing that her ministry was self-motivated and self-activated, things began to change. "I've learned to draw constantly on the Lord's power," she said, "and things are different!" This woman still works hard as a teacher, but no longer self-sufficiently. Instead, she's learned to work out, moment by moment, what God works in. Have you?

We must come to the end of ourselves, realizing we cannot live the life Christ lived unless He lives it through us, (Gal 2:20-note) in His power. Remember as Ro 7:18-note -- our flesh is "no good" and temptations of the flesh are subtle (cf "deceitful lusts" Ep 4:22-note). To be sure, believers "released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter" (Ro 7:6-note, cp Ro 6:14-note) but if we begin to try to establish little personal "laws" to "make us spiritual" or "keep us spiritual" we will arouse (Ro 7:5-note) the old flesh nature (crucified to be sure but still dormant within us). Don't get discouraged. This is a lifelong battle (Ga 5:16, 17, 18 -see notes Ga 5:16; 17; 18) but we have fled for refuge (He 6:18-note) to a sure and steadfast hope (absolute assurance of future good - Ultimately hope is personified in Christ, 1Ti 1:1) and can therefore be certain that He will complete in us the good work He began (Php 1:6-note, 1Th 5:24-note). Enter His rest (He 4:11-note, He 4:1-note). Rely on His Spirit and keep working out your salvation with fear and trembling. He Who is coming is coming quickly.

An illustration of working out our salvation and God working in us:

Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous Polish composer-pianist, was once scheduled to perform at a great American concert hall for a high-society extravaganza. In the audience was a mother with her fidgety nine-year-old son. Weary of waiting, the boy slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the Steinway on the stage. Without much notice from the audience, he sat down at the stool and began playing “chopsticks.” The roar of the crowd turned to shouts as hundreds yelled, “Get that boy away from there!” When Paderewski heard the uproar backstage, he grabbed his coat and rushed over behind the boy. Reaching around him from behind, the master began to improvise a countermelody to “Chopsticks.” As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy’s ear, “Keep going. Don’t quit, son, don’t stop, don’t stop.”  (Today in the Word)

Dr. Harry Ironside illustrates the point of God taking the "want to" out of our new heart writing that

"It is the grace of God working in the soul that makes the believer delight in holiness, in righteousness, in obedience to the will of God, for real joy is found in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember a man who lived a life of gross sin. After his conversion, one of his old friends said to him, “Bill, I pity you—a man that has been such a high-flier as you. And now you have settled down; you go to church, or stay at home and read the Bible and pray; you never have good times any more.” “But, Bob,” said the man, “you don’t understand. I get drunk every time I want to. I go to the theater every time I want to. I go to the dance when I want to. I play cards and gamble whenever I want to.” “I say, Bill,” said his friend, “I didn’t understand it that way. I thought you had to give up these things to be a Christian.” “No, Bob,” said Bill, “the Lord took the ‘want to’ out when He saved my soul, and he made me a new creature in Christ Jesus.” When we are born of God we receive a new life and that life has its own new nature, a nature that hates sin and impurity and delights in holiness and goodness."

Ironside summarizes "working out our salvation" as

“simply submitting to the truth of God after we have been saved, in order that we may glorify Him, whether as individuals or assemblies of saints in the place of testimony.”

As John wrote

"No one who is born of God (continually - present tense) practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot  (habitually - present tense) sin, because he is born of God." (1Jn 3:9)

Commenting on Philippians 2:12-13 John Piper exhorts believers to...

Go hard after Christ, because Christ is at work in you! "Strive for … the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (He 12:14-note), for the Lord is working in you what is pleasing in his sight (He 13:21-note). The reason the Bible can make our salvation depend on our pursuit of holiness without turning us into self-reliant legalists who have no assurance is that it makes our pursuit of holiness depend on the sovereign work of God in our lives. Work out your salvation because God is at work in you. Your work is his work for his glory when done in dependence on his power. The most fundamental reason why you must go hard after Christ is that Christ is in you, moving you to go hard after him. (from Going Hard After the Holy God)

In another sermon John Piper reasons that...

Since God has given power for godliness, strive to become godly! This is the heart of New Testament ethics. We labor for virtue because God has already labored for us and is at work in us. Don't ever reverse the order, lest you believe another gospel (which is no gospel). Never say, "I will work out my salvation in order that God might work in me." But say with the apostle Paul, "I work out my salvation for it is God who works in me to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). Never say, "I press on to make it my own in order that Christ might make me his own." But say with Paul, "I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own" (Php 3:12-note). There is a world of difference in a marriage where the husband doubts the love of his wife and labors to earn it, and a marriage where the husband rests in the certainty of his wife's love and takes pains joyfully not to live unworthily of it. ...God is for us with divine power. Of that we may be sure. Now, in the confidence of that power, take pains not to live unworthily of his love. (from Confirm Your Election)

In another sermon John Piper exhorts believers...

Beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (get out of the chair, the house is on fire!) because (not "in spite of" but "because") God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. It is a great incentive, not discouragement, that all our effort to do what is right is the work of almighty God within us. At least for myself I am greatly encouraged when the going gets rough that any effort I make to do right is a sign of God's grace at work in me. (from Let Us Walk By the Spirit)

In explaining "working out" John Piper instructs us to be mindful that yes...

we really do work, but all our working is the fruit of enabling grace. Paul explains this in Philippians 2:12,13...We work, but when we have worked by faith in God's enabling future grace (rather than for the merit of the law), we turn around and say about our work, "My work was God's work in me, willing and "doing his good pleasure." (from Sustained By All His Grace)

In his discussion on "step #4 ACT with humble confidence in God's help" on prayer John Piper writes...

This might seem so obvious that it wouldn't need mentioning. But it does because there are some who say that since Christ is supposed to live his life through you ("I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me.") you should not do anything—that is, simply wait until you are, as it were, carried along by another will. Well this is simply not what the Bible teaches. The Spirit of God does not cancel out our will. The work of God does not cancel out our work. The Spirit transforms our will. And God works in us so that we can work. So Philippians 2:12,13 says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." When you have admitted to God that you can do nothing without him, and prayed for his help and trusted his promise, then go ahead, ACT! And in that act Christ will be trusted, you will be helped, others will be served and God will get glory. (from Practical Help for Praying for Help)

F B Meyer wrote that...

it is not enough for God to stir men, they must obey. It appears that only a comparatively small number of captive Jews obeyed the Divine stirring and came out of Babylon with the chief of the fathers. The call resounds for volunteers, but only a few respond; the inspiration breathes over us, but only some are susceptible to it. God works to will and to do, but only certain of the children of men work out what He works in. Whenever there is a Divine stirring abroad, let us rise up and go.( Our Daily Homily Vol. 2, Page 168)

May F B Meyer's prayer also be our prayer beloved:

O God work in me,
not only to will
but to do of Thy good pleasure;
and may I work out in daily life
what Thou dost work in. AMEN.
(Our Daily Walk, February 17)

><> ><> ><>

Spiritual Reupholstering - Put on the new man which was created according to God. —Ephesians 4:24-note - When we moved into our home 5 years ago, we discovered that the former owner had left us six dining room chairs. They were covered with fabric of beautiful African art—tasteful zebra stripes. We appreciated the unexpected gifts and used them frequently when entertaining guests.

When we recently moved again, those chairs needed a makeover to match our new decor. So I called an upholsterer and asked, "Shouldn't we just put the new material over the existing fabric?" He responded, "No, you'll ruin the shape of the chair if you just put new material over the old."

The work of God in our lives is similar. He's not interested in merely changing our spiritual appearance. Instead, He intends to replace our character with what is called "the new man," made in the image of Christ (Ep 4:24-note). The flesh has a tendency to perform religious activity, but this is not the work of the Holy Spirit. He will completely transform us on the inside.

But the process is a partnership (Philippians 2:12,13). As we daily lay aside our old behaviors and replace them with godly ones, the God of grace works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to reupholster us. —Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Success is failure turned inside out.

Energy Crisis (READ: Philippians 2:12-18 )- Each day as your body performs its round of duties, it's not functioning without resources. The fact is, your body is working out what your well-supplied digestive system is working in. It's a physical law, a cooperation between supply and demand that is fundamental to healthy living.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul described a spiritual law that is similar. As we faithfully "work out" our salvation, demonstrating the reality of our faith through acts and attitudes of obedience to God's Word, we can't do it in our own energy. We must rely on God, "who works in [us] both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (2:13).

Warren Wiersbe tells of a frustrated Sunday school teacher whose class wasn't growing as it should. She wore herself out working harder and harder, yet nothing changed. Finally, after recognizing that her ministry was self-motivated and self-activated, things began to change. "I've learned to draw constantly on the Lord's power," she said, "and things are different!"

This woman still works hard as a teacher, but no longer self-sufficiently. Instead, she's learned to work out, moment by moment, what God works in. Have you? — Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Start where you are in serving the Lord,
Claim His sure promise and trust in His Word;
God simply asks you to do what you can,
He'll use your efforts to further His plan. --Anon.

You can trust God to do what you cannot do.

Your Greatest Desire - (READ: Philippians 2:12-16) The slogan "If it feels good, do it" is pure hedonism —the philosophy that pleasure is the chief good of man. Although pleasure in itself is not wrong, it can lead to moral and spiritual ruin if it is not controlled by God's Spirit.

Take the natural longing for physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy. We all desire and need it. But if closeness is lacking in one's marriage, for example, the desire to seek it with someone else can lead to much pain and suffering. It's natural to seek pleasure and avoid pain, so it's easy to believe that if something feels right it can't be wrong. But feelings are never a reliable guide to morality.

Because all of us are sinful human beings, we need one all-encompassing good desire that is stronger than any others. When we experience God's love through faith in Jesus Christ, something wonderful is born within us —a desire to love and please God for all He has done for us. This desire may grow faint at times, especially when other passions clamor for fulfillment. But the Lord is always working in us "both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). When we realize that He always desires our good, we will want to live for His glory.

What is your greatest desire? — Dennis J. De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The world displays and tempts us with
All kinds of sinful pleasure;
But if we long to please the Lord,
We'll have life's greatest treasure. —Sper

You can do what you want when you want to please God.

F B Meyer...
 

THE DIVINE ENERGY
IN THE HEART
Phil. 2:12-13
 

This text stands between two remarkable injunctions, the first personal, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"; the second relative--"Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without rebuke."

A Personal Injunction.

The personal injunction--"Work out your own salvation." There is a sense in which we are saved from guilt and the wrath of God directly we come to the Cross; but there is a sense also in which our salvation from the power of sin will not be complete until we stand before God in perfect beauty, and in that sense we have to work it out. God gives us salvation in the germ, but the growth of the tree of our life has to elaborate this primal thought. And we are to do it with "fear and trembling," because so much is involved for ourselves and for others, for evermore, if the work is left incomplete. This is the great aim to which all other aims must be subservient--the accomplishment of our soul's salvation, God and we working together. As the husbandman and God work together for the harvest, and as the miner and God work together for the provision of coal in our homes and factories, so we are to work together with God for the full accomplishment of His purpose and our blessedness, in the ultimate salvation of our souls from every evil ingredient. This is a very deep, searching, and important work. Are you engaged in it?

A Relative Injunction.

The relative injunction--your attitude to others. "That ye may be harmless," i.e. that your life shall not injure another; blameless, i.e. that no one should have any proper blame to attach to you; without rebuke, i.e. in the sight of God. And this, not in heaven, but in the midst of "a crooked and perverse generation.'' A traveller in Japan was surprised to find a country given up to arctic winter, in which, nevertheless, there is the abundant tropical growth of oranges and bamboos. He was surprised, whilst the winds were sweeping across the snowy, icy plains of Japan, to find all these tropical plants, which he could only account for by the fact that the country had been volcanic, and that the hidden fire still burnt under the soil, so that, whilst winter reigns in the climate, summer reigns in the heart of the earth, and therefore the tropical plants are able to thrive. And we, in the midst of a very frigid, arctic world, a rebellious generation, are called to live the tropical life of eternity, to be blameless, harmless, and without rebuke. A man may say to himself, It is impossible for me to realise those two injunctions; but our text lies between them and says, Do not despair, do not abandon hope of being harmless, blameless, and without rebuke, for God will assume the responsibility of making you obedient to His own ideal--"It is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure." Work out what He works in.

Six Dominant Notes.

Now this sublime text strikes six dominant notes:

God's Personality--"it is God";

God's Immanence--"in you";

God's Energy--"worketh in you";

God's Morality--He works in you "to will";

God's Efficiency--He works in you "to work";

God's ultimate Satisfaction--"for His own good pleasure."

GOD'S PERSONALITY.

(1) God's Personality. --"It is God that " Take away it, and transpose the other words--God is. Or if you like to strike out the word is, you leave the one great word God. And God is the answer to every question of the mind, to every trembling perturbation of the heart, to every weakness of appetite, and to every strong hurricane of temptation. The soul, the lonely individual soul, not knowing whence it has come, knowing almost as little whither it goes, confronting the question of weakness and sin and death and eternity, and the deep, deep problem of moral evil, can only answer every complaint by the one all-sufficient, all comprehending monosyllable God. This is our one sheet-anchor--God made us, God knew our constitution, God knew our environment, God knew our temptation, the temptations that would assail us, and yet God redeemed us to Himself, and made us His own by the blood of Christ. Now, if He be a Being of perfect benevolence, He cannot have done so much without assuming to Himself the responsibility of realizing the object of the tears, longings, and prayers, which He has put by His own hand within our nature; and, therefore, we must throw back on Him the responsibility (we doing our part), of making us blameless, harmless, and unrebukable before Him.

GOD'S IMMANENCE.

(2) God's Immanence.--Distinguish between justification and sanctification. In justification, which is an instantaneous act upon the part of God, as soon as the soul of man trusts Christ, God imputes to man the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so that he stands before God, in Christ, accepted and beloved. But if that were all it would resemble those curious Eastern processions where they marshal all the beggars of the market-place, and fling over their shoulders white or purple dresses embroidered with gold, so that the procession is composed of a number of the raggedest, dirtiest, laziest men in the kingdom, who look for an hour respectable. And if justification were all, God would simply throw white robes upon us. But our hearts would fester; and, therefore, having justified us by an instantaneous act of His grace, He undertakes our sanctification by His immanence (from the Latin words in and neneo to remain).

Deeper than the body, deeper than the soul with intellect, imagination, and volition, lies the spirit, and into the spirit of man the Spirit of God comes, bringing the germ of the nature of the risen Christ, so that the Holy Spirit reproduces it within us. This is the immanence of God; and this is the distinctive peculiarity of our holy religion--that God can be in us, not robbing us of individuality, but side by side with it, clothing Himself with it, so that just as He was in Isaiah, but Isaiah greatly differs from Jeremiah, just as He was in John, but John was an altogether different man from Peter, so God enters the human spirit, and, without robbing us of our power of volition, individuality, or personality, He waits within, longing to burst through every restraint, and to reveal Himself through us in all the beauty and glory of His nature. Hide yourself, and let God work through you His own perfect ideal.

GOD'S ENERGY

(3) God's Energy.--He works. He is not an absentee in creation; He is not an absentee in providence; He is not an absentee in the spirit of man; but He works so unobtrusively that we do not always realise the mighty forces which are at work within us. Froude and Carlyle, in Carlyle's house, had a conversation one day about God's work, and Froude said that God's work in history was like His work in nature, modest, quiet, and unobtrusive. Carlyle replied sadly and solemnly--for it was a day of one of his darker moods--"Ah, but, Froude, God seems to do so little!"--as though he expected that God would resemble a world-conqueror, whose personality is always attracting attention.

If you had been present during creation, as Milton puts it, you might only have heard flute-like music. You would not have heard the voice that said, Light be! or that bade the waters give place. You would not have seen the mighty hands moulding the earth. All would have been done by natural processes, so simply, so ordinarily, you would hardly have recognised the greatness of the Creator.

And so in our heart. O son of man, thou hast not realised it, that all through these years the infinite God has been imprisoned in thy spirit; and thy tears, thy sighs, thy regrets, thy yearnings, the rejuvenation of thy conscience, which thou hast so often affronted and injured, prove that the Holy, mighty, and loving God is within thy spirit, fretting against the evil as John Howard fretted against the evils of the lazaretto and the prison, longing to make thy heart pure and sweet, if only thou wilt yield to Him.

THE DIVINE MORALITY.

(4) The Divine Morality.--He works in us to will. That is, He does not treat us like a machine. He deals with us as moral agents who can say yes and no. He is not going to compel us to be saints, He is not going to force us to be holy. If thou wilt, He much more wills, and thou dost will because He willed before. The will of God wants to take thee up into itself, as the wind that breathes over a city waits to catch up the smoke from a thousand chimney-pots, and waft it on its bosom through the heavens.

You may always know when God is willing within you--first, by a holy discontent with yourself. You are dissatisfied with all that you have ever done, and been. Secondly, you aspire; you see above you the snow-capped peaks, and your heart longs to climb and to stand there. Thirdly, these are followed by the appreciation of the possibility of your being blameless and harmless and without rebuke. If a man refuses to believe that he can be a saint, he never will become one. If a man says, I cannot hope to be more than conqueror, God Himself cannot save him. When the Spirit of God is within you, there rises up a consciousness that you have the capacity for the highest possible attainments, because you were made and redeemed in the image of God, and because the germ of the Christ-nature has been sown in your spirit. Two men go through a picture-gallery. Each sees the same masterpiece. One says, I cannot imagine how that can be done. The other man says, I also am a painter. That second man is capable of producing a picture which also shall outlive. You must believe that you can be a saint, even you. You must dare to believe it, because the Christ-germ is sown in your character, and because God is working in you to will and to do. Fourthly, the determination, I will. There should be a moment in the history of us all when each shall say--Cost what it may, I will not yield again; I will arise to be what God wants to make me; I will yield myself to Him; I will reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ; I will yield myself to the power that worketh in me. Discontent, aspiration, appreciation of the possibilities of saintliness, and resolve.

The will of God is working in you to-day. Cannot you take those four steps? Are you going back to live the old self-indulgent life? If so, these words will be a curse to you, for nothing injures the soul so much as to know the truth and yet fall back into the ditch.

HE WORKS TO WORK.

(5) God's Work for Work.--Does God allow babes to want milk, and then, in the eternal ordering of things, not provide milk? Does not the longing of the little child argue that somewhere, presumably in the mother's breast, there is the supply? Do the swallows begin to gather around the eaves of our houses, longing for a sunny clime, and is there no such realm of sunshine to be reached over land and sea? Do the young lions in the winter roar for food, that God does not furnish? Do you think that God is going to give us this discontent with ourselves, this yearning after Himself, and is going to mock us? That would be the work of a devil. If you hold that God is good and loving and holy, your very aspirations are a proof that He who works in you to will, is prepared to work in you to do. But, till now, we have done so much by our own resolutions, that we have shut His doing out. If only we would relinquish our efforts after sanctification, as once we relinquished those after justification, and if we said to Him: "Great God, work out Thine own ideal in my poor weak nature," He would will and He would work. God's morality and God's efficiency are co-equal.

GOD'S SATISFACTION.

(6) God's Satisfaction.--"For His good pleasure." When He made the world, He said it was very good; then sin came, and selfishness; and the dull dark ages passed, till Jesus came, who opened His nature to the Father, though He were the Son of God. The mystery of the Incarnation lies in this: our Lord gave up the exercise of His inherent deity as the Son of God, and became dependent on the Father, and the Father wrought perfectly through the yielded nature of the Son. Oh, ponder this! The Father wrought perfectly in the yielded nature of Jesus, and the result was summed up in the cry, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In some such manner it is possible to walk worthy of God unto all pleasing. It is possible to have this testimony, even in our mortal life, that we have pleased God. At the end of every day, as we lie down to sleep--we may hear the whisper of God's voice saying, "Dear child, I am pleased with you." But you can only have it by allowing Him in silence, in solitude, in obedience, to work in you, to will and to do of His own good pleasure.